Star and Car: Sarah McLeod

The Aussie singer tells how she sabotaged her mini bike to stop her sister taking it and why motorycles still rock.

Star and Car: Sarah McLeod

15 May 2015Owen Thomson

What was your first set of wheels?

A Yamaha PeeWee 50. We lived on a property in Adelaide and I saved up for it with my pocket money and bought it from a classified ad in the newspaper – it was $400. I remember the morning before I went to pick it up I was running down to the chicken shed to get the eggs thinking to myself: "as of this afternoon, I'll never need to use my legs to get the eggs again". I rode that bike for two years. Every time I'd finish with it I'd take the spark plug out so that my sister couldn't ride it. She never knew what was wrong with it. In the end I sold it for $100 more than I paid for it.

What about when it came to the road?

First time on the road was a car. I had an orange Datsun 180B. I loved that thing. My mum's boyfriend at the time ran a car yard, so he found it for me. After that I went through a succession of different used cars because he was getting me trade-in prices. After that I had a Toyota Tercel, which we called The Band Wagon because I was in a cover band and was in charge of driving everybody's equipment to every gig all around regional South Australia.

As a Suzuki ambassador, what are you riding these days?

A Suzuki Boulevard. I've​ ridden a lot of bikes over the last 10 to 20 years, and this one is by far the most comfortable and easiest to ride. It also feels the safest. I'm pretty small, so normally when I sit on a bike I'm on tippy​ toes. This one's got a really comfortable low seat and is just super sturdy. There's no element of danger.

Do you prefer bike or car for everyday commuting?

I actually use the bike all the time. I only use my car if I have to take my guitar or pick up equipment. The bike's easy, it's fun, I can nip into the city and park right out the front of wherever I'm going. Why would you take the car?

What's your pet road peeve?

Obviously I don't like vehicle drivers who don't notice or even think about motorcycle riders. You kind of have to think for them. If I expect everybody to be hopeless then that's probably the safest way. If I assume that people see me, I think that's when you run into trouble. But there are also motorcycle riders who kind of annoy me because they ride so dangerously that they give all of us a bad name – zooming in and out of traffic, or going up the middle of lanes really quickly.

VITAL STATISTICS

14 – the age I got my PeeWee 50

16 – the age I got my Ls

BREAKOUT

The lowdown: The Superjesus​ frontwoman​ has a long-standing love for two-wheeled classics.

Career highlights: releasing three albums with The Superjesus​ and chalking up 300,000 sales; winning three ARIA awards; releasing her first solo album, Beauty Was A Tiger, in 2005.

See her: on tour with The Superjesus​ and The Baby Animals from May to July, or solo on July 9 at Rock Lily, The Star, Sydney.